Scuba Diving Assholes of Surly

[conVINCEd 21469]

2 minutes ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Just got back from Jamaica, logged a few dives. Had a pod if 7 dolphins come check us out on our first dive, no matter how many dives I do, dolphins never cease to amaze me

Dolphins are the elephants of the ocean.  Completely awesome in every way.  Swam with some once in the wild and it was amazing.  They also saved my grandfather’s life when his ship got sunk in WWII.   They were floating at sea, and the sharks were beginning to pick them off one by one.  The dolphins showed up and protected them until they found land.  I’m not sure why sharks are scared of dolphins, but it’s apparently a thing.

[troph 24781]

14 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

Dolphins are the elephants of the ocean.  Completely awesome in every way.  Swam with some once in the wild and it was amazing.  They also saved my grandfather’s life when his ship got sunk in WWII.   They were floating at sea, and the sharks were beginning to pick them off one by one.  The dolphins showed up and protected them until they found land.  I’m not sure why sharks are scared of dolphins, but it’s apparently a thing.

That’s an amazing story.

[Hate 20106]

Was your grandfather on the USS Indianapolis?

[conVINCEd 21469]

1 hour ago, troph said:

That’s an amazing story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Helena_(CL-50)
 

There are a few books on what happened, but that is a tldr version.  One day   I will visit the site where the ship went down and the island where they washed up.  The natives took them in and protected them until the calvary arrived to rescue them.  Paul Allen’s project to locate the wreckage of all of the ships sunk in WWII found the wreckage a few years ago.  It was more than a mile deep, so probably not going to be able to dive down and pay my respects,  but I would like to see what he saw.   As to the sharks being scared of dolphins thing, I was cage diving in South Africa a few years ago and a pod of about 50 dolphins showed up, the guy running the boat told us we weren’t going to see any more sharks until the dolphins left.  He was right, but the dolphins gave us a pretty good show.

[troph 24781]

9 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Helena_(CL-50)
 

There are a few books on what happened, but that is a tldr version.  One day   I will visit the site where the ship went down and the island where they washed up.  The natives took them in and protected them until the calvary arrived to rescue them.  Paul Allen’s project to locate the wreckage of all of the ships sunk in WWII found the wreckage a few years ago.  It was more than a mile deep, so probably not going to be able to dive down and pay my respects,  but I would like to see what he saw.   As to the sharks being scared of dolphins thing, I was cage diving in South Africa a few years ago and a pod of about 50 dolphins showed up, the guy running the boat told us we weren’t going to see any more sharks until the dolphins left.  He was right, but the dolphins gave us a pretty good show.

another wiki...

Quote

When they see an aggressive shark, they immediately attack it with the whole pod. This is why sharks avoid pods with many dolphins. ... The dolphins will slam their snouts into the soft stomach of the shark which leads to serious internal trauma. They also use their snouts to hit the gills of the shark.

 

[troph 24781]

two weeks we dive key largo on a sunday afternoon then fly fish the back country out of islamorada.  a trip I had no desire for (miami in July for a bithday no thanks) has now turned into a "fuck yeah" trip I can't wait for.

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

19 hours ago, troph said:

two weeks we dive key largo on a sunday afternoon then fly fish the back country out of islamorada.  a trip I had no desire for (miami in July for a bithday no thanks) has now turned into a "fuck yeah" trip I can't wait for.

What company are diving with in Key Largo?

[troph 24781]

15 minutes ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

What company are diving with in Key Largo?

Gf set it up not sure I’ll find out.  
 

camera equipment should be here soon too, looks like we jumped into the deepend on this one. 

[troph 24781]

How’s the isla mujeres diving? Kids want to go again we might go to Cozumel again. They said no to Colorado. Oh well I can’t complain. 
 

Oh and nitrox class tonight !! 

Edited July 8, 2021 by troph

[rage-a-holic 4371]

2 hours ago, troph said:

How’s the isla mujeres diving? Kids want to go again we might go to Cozumel again. They said no to Colorado. Oh well I can’t complain. 
 

Oh and nitrox class tonight !! 

IM is a letdown compared to Cozumel. But it's also a much smaller island loaded with douchey tourists who think they all just discovered it, if that's appealing to you. 

[CHIEF 5075]

1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

IM is a letdown compared to Cozumel. But it's also a much smaller island loaded with douchey tourists who think they all just discovered it, if that's appealing to you. 

It looks like the bottom of the pool in a typical Lakeway home. We are doing our Nitrox cert this week as well. Dove with it the last two times, but thought it best to get the certification. We are three weeks out. Usually, I'm excited, but I have so many loose ends that it's an afterthought. Tough obligations right now, but due to my procrastination and subcontractor schedules.

CHIEF

[Austinvines 316]

Not a dive but a cool experience for those that love the ocean. The whale shark tour from IM was a little terrifying since the “pod” was located between two isolated thunderstorms with cloud to sea lightning. I’d see the flash and immediately hear the thunder, with our captain yelling “go, go, go!”

It was raining hard enough for it to enter my snorkel and so dark I couldn’t really make out the giants ten feet down. The lightning also made me think it would’ve been a better idea to have my wife and me in different groups in case we both were electrocuted. Spent about 5 minutes with them, then waited for the other tourons to shuffle through. Next time we were up, my wife declined and I went with a young British lass who was 21 and solo traveling. (No pics as the phones were in the dry bag). These are from her GoPro.

[troph 24781]

Dove key largo today, visibility was 25 feet, I think the storm was still having an effect. Practiced some buoyancy techniques from our PPB class.  Dive master asked us to come back for advanced classes, said he would show us a great time. He asked if we could follow him he could follow us on Insta.  
 

Didn’t take a camera. Girlie’s tricked out housing for her back up camera didn’t come in on time. Saw some large mantas and other cool shit. 
 

enriched air is a game changer, no long ass nap needed and no lasting fatigue. 
 

back in Cozumel in 2-3 weeks with my boys.  Tahiti diving in September, the Keys again NYE/NY and Cozumel in February again. 
 

I can has sticker now?  

Edited July 19, 2021 by troph

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

12 hours ago, troph said:

Dove key largo today, visibility was 25 feet, I think the storm was still having an effect. Practiced some buoyancy techniques from our PPB class.  Dive master asked us to come back for advanced classes, said he would show us a great time. He asked if we could follow him he could follow us on Insta.  
 

Didn’t take a camera. Girlie’s tricked out housing for her back up camera didn’t come in on time. Saw some large mantas and other cool shit. 
 

enriched air is a game changer, no long ass nap needed and no lasting fatigue. 
 

back in Cozumel in 2-3 weeks with my boys.  Tahiti diving in September, the Keys again NYE/NY and Cozumel in February again. 
 

I can has sticker now?  

Did you do a wreck or reef?

[CHIEF 5075]

13 hours ago, troph said:

Dove key largo today, visibility was 25 feet, I think the storm was still having an effect. Practiced some buoyancy techniques from our PPB class.  Dive master asked us to come back for advanced classes, said he would show us a great time. He asked if we could follow him he could follow us on Insta.  
 

Didn’t take a camera. Girlie’s tricked out housing for her back up camera didn’t come in on time. Saw some large mantas and other cool shit. 
 

enriched air is a game changer, no long ass nap needed and no lasting fatigue. 
 

back in Cozumel in 2-3 weeks with my boys.  Tahiti diving in September, the Keys again NYE/NY and Cozumel in February again. 
 

I can has sticker now?  

We're gonna be there July 29th- August 5th. Any overlap?

CHIEF

[troph 24781]

5 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Did you do a wreck or reef?

Reef, but loosely planning our advanced cert here and will do wrecks as one of the deep dives. 

4 hours ago, CHIEF said:

We're gonna be there July 29th- August 5th. Any overlap?

CHIEF

We leave tomorrow. No complaints though, yacht time, dive time, fishing time … pretty stellar long weekend! Enjoy your time take some cool pics and share!

Edited July 19, 2021 by troph

[PRONG HORN 3130]

21 hours ago, troph said:

I can has sticker now?  

 

  

 

If you're going to be doing a lot of diving, investing in an air-integrated computer is an obvious choice.

 

 

have fun diving those largo wrecks.  When you're going down the rope you never know who might make an appearance.  

 

 

[CHIEF 5075]

3 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

  

 

If you're going to be doing a lot of diving, investing in an air-integrated computer is an obvious choice.

 

 

have fun diving those largo wrecks.  When you're going down the rope you never know who might make an appearance.  

 

 

We are going through this right now. You would think CHIEF Jr. dives every other day. Apparently, he bought this dive watch and a transmitter, now he needs a high end reg to make it work. Almost sitting at $3k, and doesn't own his own tank, or reg.

Thought I raised him better.

CHIEF

 

[PRONG HORN 3130]

2 hours ago, CHIEF said:

We are going through this right now. You would think CHIEF Jr. dives every other day. Apparently, he bought this dive watch and a transmitter, now he needs a high end reg to make it work. Almost sitting at $3k, and doesn't own his own tank, or reg.

Thought I raised him better.

CHIEF

 

 

I guess he just wanted a cool watch that no one else has.  If he has the money, you would think that buying a 600 dollar computer and taking a 2000 trip somewhere would be a better use of that money.    

[Sam Lin 3550]

2 hours ago, CHIEF said:

 and doesn't own his own tank,

Is owning your own tank more of a preferred option now? It never made sense to me because they're so inconvenient to transport and are a commodity item that any air fill shop or dive boat has for rent. As long as you trust the shop and the tank has been inspected, what is the benefit of owning a tank? I get it if you dive obscure locations that don't have dive support nearby, but that hasn't applied to any of the locations mentioned in here. And even then you can rent it from another location and bring it.

(We did own our own tanks back when I first dove, and it didn't make any sense to me then, and even less so now.)

[William Wallace 106]

I took Diving as PE in College, We had our certification at Lake Travis Thanksgiving Weekend. I learned to pee in my suit.

Girl freaked out on the buddy breathing, Dive Master had to try to pull her down...

StarFlight was out that day for some one else.  Anways....

 

Man, I've Only been a couple of times in my life, but that has to be the next best thing to being in space.

I petted fish that could swallow me, saw so much cool shit.

I need to start doing it more, I envy the frequent divers here.

 

[CHIEF 5075]

7 hours ago, Sam Lin said:

Is owning your own tank more of a preferred option now? It never made sense to me because they're so inconvenient to transport and are a commodity item that any air fill shop or dive boat has for rent. As long as you trust the shop and the tank has been inspected, what is the benefit of owning a tank? I get it if you dive obscure locations that don't have dive support nearby, but that hasn't applied to any of the locations mentioned in here. And even then you can rent it from another location and bring it.

(We did own our own tanks back when I first dove, and it didn't make any sense to me then, and even less so now.)

It would probably benefit him to have a tank. It's a two hour turn around for him to go into Ft. Worth and get one presently. He has a buddy, here in town that could fill it. We have a badass crystal clear dive lake about 20 minutes in the opposite direction. It's covered up on the weekend with Ft. Worth dive shop classes. But is empty during the week. A tank and regulator would have been a better use of the money. I imagine he will purchase those in August.

CHIEF

[troph 24781]

On dive computers I just bought the one I trained on after seeing it on a few top ten beginner lists - mares quad - works just fine. But the ones that get up there over a grand look pretty bad ass, just not sure I need the functionality. 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

42 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

It would probably benefit him to have a tank. It's a two hour turn around for him to go into Ft. Worth and get one presently. He has a buddy, here in town that could fill it. We have a badass crystal clear dive lake about 20 minutes in the opposite direction. It's covered up on the weekend with Ft. Worth dive shop classes. But is empty during the week. A tank and regulator would have been a better use of the money. I imagine he will purchase those in August.

CHIEF

Make sure his buddy has a clean compressor, at pressure any ill effects from impurities in the air can be magnified.

 

18 minutes ago, troph said:

On dive computers I just bought the one I trained on after seeing it on a few top ten beginner lists - mares quad - works just fine. But the ones that get up there over a grand look pretty bad ass, just not sure I need the functionality. 

My first computer was a simple non air integrated console, I still have it but never use it. I now dive with an Oceanic OCi. wireless air integrated watch. Great computer and easy to use. I also dive with a small SPG incase the computer fails, that way I can still keep an eye on my air. Nothing sucks more than having to end a dive because your computer floods.

 

11 hours ago, CHIEF said:

We are going through this right now. You would think CHIEF Jr. dives every other day. Apparently, he bought this dive watch and a transmitter, now he needs a high end reg to make it work. Almost sitting at $3k, and doesn't own his own tank, or reg.

 

 

Having your own reg is the way to go, it is your life line and you never know how well the dive operation maintains their equipment.

[troph 24781]

We are mulling over getting our own regs but I’m waiting to make sure we take good care of our fins and masks first then I’ll trust us more than a dive shop for our lifeline. Sounds shocking but cleaning and maintaining often falls to me and I’m overwhelmed with whole life crap but so far so good we’ve done well maintaining our stuff.  Another few months and j do think we will add those. 

Edited July 20, 2021 by troph

[troph 24781]

15 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

  

 

If you're going to be doing a lot of diving, investing in an air-integrated computer is an obvious choice.

 

 

have fun diving those largo wrecks.  When you're going down the rope you never know who might make an appearance.  

 

 

Wondering out loud about the magnets as I did in the dive shop. Not too interested in an intimate relationship with the big biter sharks. 

[AUinHsv 579]

7 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

Make sure his buddy has a clean compressor, at pressure any ill effects from impurities in the air can be magnified.

 

My first computer was a simple non air integrated console, I still have it but never use it. I now dive with an Oceanic OCi. wireless air integrated watch. Great computer and easy to use. I also dive with a small SPG incase the computer fails, that way I can still keep an eye on my air. Nothing sucks more than having to end a dive because your computer floods.

 

Having your own reg is the way to go, it is your life line and you never know how well the dive operation maintains their equipment.

Absolute plus on getting the reg. The only time I ran out of air was on a "brand new from factory" reg that the NASA scuba club bought. This was in 70's when a pressure guage was a luxury. Got one breath - guessing it was set to 30 psi and not 300. Luckily I had been taught very well (see earlier in thread for what we had to pass). Did a quick look at Dad and he was 20 feet away so I elected to do a free ascent from about 50 feet. I still only have had 3 regulators and once deosn;t count (see picture of double hose). My 30 year old US Divers Conshelf is just fine as long as I can get parts

As far as computers go - not trying to sound like the "old diver yells at cloud" but I dove for almost 20 years without one. I like them but I also carry the dive tables just in case. Get a decent entry model unless you plan to do a lot of exotic diving - 150 ft, mixed gas etc.

[CHIEF 5075]

Funny story from the last time we were in Cozumel. Mrs. CHIEF and I decided to take a day off from diving. CHIEF Jr. and his buddy were the only two with the Divemaster and Captain that day. Since they are young and in shape they went to Stingray Wall on the north end of the island, the currents are really strong there, and Mrs. CHIEF would not have enjoyed it.

About 40 minutes into the dive, Gato, the Captain gives them the signal to begin their decent early. They can see he is circling around, seems pretty nervous. As soon as they surface, he is there grabbing BCs and tanks, dragging them aboard. In a big rush. When Dario comes up, Gato shouts "meil de abeja" (honey bee). They are a half mile offshore, and it had come from the direction of the mainland. That means there is a swarm not too far behind the scout. Apparently, if they reach the boat before reaching shore, they swarm the boat and will fuck you up.

CHIEF Jr. said he had never seen a dive boat ran wide open until that day. They ran straight to the beach and Gato took the bee and put him on a tree limb so the bees would go to the limb and not the boat. I'm guessing that has happened before. He said that he never saw anyone so nervous about one solitary bee.

CHIEF

[troph 24781]

4 hours ago, AUinHsv said:

Absolute plus on getting the reg. The only time I ran out of air was on a "brand new from factory" reg that the NASA scuba club bought. This was in 70's when a pressure guage was a luxury. Got one breath - guessing it was set to 30 psi and not 300. Luckily I had been taught very well (see earlier in thread for what we had to pass). Did a quick look at Dad and he was 20 feet away so I elected to do a free ascent from about 50 feet. I still only have had 3 regulators and once deosn;t count (see picture of double hose). My 30 year old US Divers Conshelf is just fine as long as I can get parts

As far as computers go - not trying to sound like the "old diver yells at cloud" but I dove for almost 20 years without one. I like them but I also carry the dive tables just in case. Get a decent entry model unless you plan to do a lot of exotic diving - 150 ft, mixed gas etc.

I came home with a computer and my gf said I need a computer like I need a hole in the head. She hadn’t dived in more than 10 years and also dove with charts. They barely teach charts now for open water classes. The course now says end the dive if your computer whacks out. No charts. She bought a dive computer before we went to Miami. 

[Sam Lin 3550]

Wife got her cert last year and instructor flat out told the class if you go somewhere and your divemaster is using a chart to plan his dive, find a new divemaster.

[rage-a-holic 4371]

2 hours ago, troph said:

I came home with a computer and my gf said I need a computer like I need a hole in the head. She hadn’t dived in more than 10 years and also dove with charts. They barely teach charts now for open water classes. The course now says end the dive if your computer whacks out. No charts. She bought a dive computer before we went to Miami. 

not sure what you bought, but as someone who has 6 dive computers right now (and I've had 12 different ones over the years), nothing beats Shearwater for performance, reliability and support.

[William Wallace 106]

I have a friend that worked as a Dive Master in Roatan, Honduras a year at a time twice, bought some land there.

That was a cool life choice.

First time, he was a Magnolia Cafe manager, I cooked burgers, the owners of Mag brought the biggest bowl of Guacamole I had ever seen.  Cool owners. (Going away party)

 

Edited July 21, 2021 by William Wallace

[William Wallace 106]

nm

Edited July 21, 2021 by William Wallace

[AUinHsv 579]

9 hours ago, troph said:

I came home with a computer and my gf said I need a computer like I need a hole in the head. She hadn’t dived in more than 10 years and also dove with charts. They barely teach charts now for open water classes. The course now says end the dive if your computer whacks out. No charts. She bought a dive computer before we went to Miami. 

Which is fine unless you are already in a dive that needs stops when the computer quits. I don't mean to only rely on charts but for two bucks they fit iocely in the BC

[troph 24781]

1 hour ago, AUinHsv said:

Which is fine unless you are already in a dive that needs stops when the computer quits. I don't mean to only rely on charts but for two bucks they fit iocely in the BC

I don’t disagree with you I’m just telling you how PADI teaches it now. They’ve tossed charts aside to the point of saying if you have an issue with your computer, ascend, safety stop and end the dive. They don’t say pull out your charts and do it the way your great uncle did in the 1900’s. 

Edited July 21, 2021 by troph

[troph 24781]

8 hours ago, rage-a-holic said:

not sure what you bought, but as someone who has 6 dive computers right now (and I've had 12 different ones over the years), nothing beats Shearwater for performance, reliability and support.

We have beginner computers mine is a mares hers is a suntuko. I’m positive we will upgrade later. 

which shearwater do you have?

I think a hood or some other hair control device (hair floating around my face is annoying), a vest for diving without a wet suit and a regulator are next for me.

Edited July 21, 2021 by troph

[rage-a-holic 4371]

1 hour ago, troph said:

We have beginner computers mine is a mares hers is a suntuko. I’m positive we will upgrade later. 

which shearwater do you have?

I think a hood or some other hair control device (hair floating around my face is annoying), a vest for diving without a wet suit and a regulator are next for me.

Shearwater Teric with transmitter. They have several AI options with larger font if necessary.

Can't help with the hair or vest. Don't go cheap on a regulator. A good reg setup can last 20+ years. My main 3 are Apeks, Dive Rite and Atomic.

[rage-a-holic 4371]

On 7/19/2021 at 9:10 PM, CHIEF said:

We are going through this right now. You would think CHIEF Jr. dives every other day. Apparently, he bought this dive watch and a transmitter, now he needs a high end reg to make it work. Almost sitting at $3k, and doesn't own his own tank, or reg.

CHIEF

 

lol, who told you that? The transmitter screws into a standard HP reg port, which is standard on literally every single regulator sold today.

[rage-a-holic 4371]

On 7/19/2021 at 9:37 AM, CHIEF said:

We're gonna be there July 29th- August 5th. Any overlap?

CHIEF

 

On 7/19/2021 at 1:37 PM, troph said:

We leave tomorrow. No complaints though, yacht time, dive time, fishing time … pretty stellar long weekend! Enjoy your time take some cool pics and share!

I think Chief is saying they will be in Cozumel til Aug 5th and you guys may have trip overlap.

I'm also here, if you guys need another paying fatass on the boat or want to grab a beer.

[CHIEF 5075]

26 minutes ago, rage-a-holic said:

 

I think Chief is saying they will be in Cozumel til Aug 5th and you guys may have trip overlap.

I'm also here, if you guys need another paying fatass on the boat or want to grab a beer.

We leave for Cozumel next Thursday. You gonna be around?

CHIEF

[rage-a-holic 4371]

4 minutes ago, CHIEF said:

We leave for Cozumel next Thursday. You gonna be around?

CHIEF

Possibly? We are picking up a puppy next Thursday in Cancun and may come back to Cozumel or go somewhere else.

 

 

[troph 24781]

1 hour ago, rage-a-holic said:

 

I think Chief is saying they will be in Cozumel til Aug 5th and you guys may have trip overlap.

I'm also here, if you guys need another paying fatass on the boat or want to grab a beer.

Ah gotcha … We may show up again august 6th…

Edited July 22, 2021 by troph

[High Plains Drifter 11024]

On 6/30/2021 at 6:13 PM, conVINCEd said:

Dolphins are the elephants of the ocean.  Completely awesome in every way.  Swam with some once in the wild and it was amazing.  They also saved my grandfather’s life when his ship got sunk in WWII.   They were floating at sea, and the sharks were beginning to pick them off one by one.  The dolphins showed up and protected them until they found land.  I’m not sure why sharks are scared of dolphins, but it’s apparently a thing.

 

Many years back we were at S. Padre Island and there were some dolphins cruising around about 100 yards offshore. Me and a friend swam out to them and they allowed us to get within a few feet of them. We sort of checked each other out for a few minutes, and splashed around for a bit. I tried grabbing one's dorsal fin and they took off.

//csb

 

 

 

[troph 24781]

It’s official back to Cozumel for one last trip before school starts and delta fucks us all in the ass in a way we won’t enjoy. all booked up and ready to go.  Three dive excursions all of our full days there and I think we are gonna night dive once. 

Edited July 25, 2021 by troph

[troph 24781]

Christmas in July for the ladyfriend.

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by troph

[topochico 1049]

Sitting off the edge of Guadalupe island over the past few days. Great White action has been pretty heavy. Yesterday we had 6 (4 male 2 female) surfacing around the boat for several hours. We head back tonight. Highly recommend if you get a chance.

[topochico 1049]

Sitting off the edge of Guadalupe island over the past few days. Great White action has been pretty heavy. Yesterday we had 6 (4 male 2 female) surfacing around the boat for several hours. We head back tonight. Highly recommend if you get a chance.

[topochico 1049]

Sorry for the double tap. Spotty wifi

[UpperWestside 6159]

I have a friend here that would love this thread. Diving is his favorite thing in the entire world to do. Every vacation he takes is to go diving. He lives on a houseboat here in NYC near his job at the New York Aquarium. He is on the dive team at the aquarium and that’s a dream job for him. He has some amazing stories and pictures from dives he has done over the years. He also does a lot of local dives to shipwrecks not far off the coast here that seem really cool. If any of you ever come through NYC and go to the aquarium I can tell him and I am sure he’d enjoy sharing stories with you about diving. He’s a veritable encyclopedia when it comes to diving.

[Teamdirtyleg 1060]

3 hours ago, topochico said:

Sitting off the edge of Guadalupe island over the past few days. Great White action has been pretty heavy. Yesterday we had 6 (4 male 2 female) surfacing around the boat for several hours. We head back tonight. Highly recommend if you get a chance.

See any UFOs?